Gerry Brownlee National Education Spokesperson

5 June 2001

Reassessment exposes inequities

The Minister of Education's 'Single Reassessment of Internal Assessments' policy announced today shows again the glaring inequities for students who will study for the National Certificate for Educational Achievement next year, National's Education spokesperson Gerry Brownlee said today.

"This is a laughable non-decision on behalf of the Minister. At the end of the day while a student may deserve the opportunity of reassessment they won't necessarily get it because the decision is left up to individual schools as to whether a student is eligible for reassessment.

"The system is unfair because if a student doesn't make the grade the first time round, their school will decide whether they get a second shot but each school will have their own criteria. "Leaving it up to schools to decide 'if more learning' has taken place puts teachers in an invidious position and open to the allegation of personality issues between individual teachers and pupils influencing the reassessment decision.

"With 90% of teachers recently surveyed saying they believed there will be minimal consistency in the way teachers mark internally assessed work next year, and the Minister's decision today, parents, teachers and students should be demanding much stronger moderation between schools and pupil's work than Mr Mallard seems willing to fund.

"This reassessment policy is going to make the NCEA an even lower standard of qualification than it already is," Mr Brownlee said.

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